Expectation
by tastewithouttalent
Summary: "'I just don't want you to think I'm not serious about you.'" Leorio follows a script and Kurapika breaks the fourth wall.


"Kurapika."

The blond doesn't look up from the book in front of him. "What do you want, Leorio?"

"Do you want to get married?"

It's the most casual proposal Kurapika has ever heard. It's also the only one he's ever heard, at least directed at him. He turns a page without looking up. "Not particularly."

There's a shuffle of movement; then the bed drops to one side as the other man casts his weight onto the mattress. The movement ruffles the pages of the book; luckily Kurapika gets his hand on his page so he doesn't lose his place.

"Why not?" Now there's a chin digging into his shoulder. Kurapika smiles but doesn't look up.

"Do _you_ want to?"

"Well." Leorio's arm snakes out around Kurapika's waist and pulls until the other man's weight is half-atop the blond's back. "We've been living together for years, now. Shouldn't we?"

Kurapika has to laugh at that, and he looks away from the book so he can bump his nose against the frames of Leorio's glasses. "Do you always do things because you should?"

"I know you shouldn't be reading through this conversation," Leorio offers in return, and because he's right Kurapika doesn't protest when he reaches around to slide the book out of the blond's hands. Leorio takes a moment to lean over Kurapika and settle the book on the bedside stand - he understands the importance of book care, at least - before coming back down to lie on his side facing the blond. Kurapika stays on his stomach, but he twists an arm under his head to use as a pillow and turns his head to watch Leorio.

The other man moves his hand from around Kurapika's waist so he can drag his fingers through his hair. If it weren't already standing on end the gesture would lift the dark strands upright; as it is at least his hair doesn't get _more_ ridiculous as a result of the nervous habit.

"Isn't marriage a thing that people do?" Leorio finally continues, squinting around his glasses like he can see the right decision past Kurapika's head if he looks hard enough. "I mean, you start dating, start sleeping together, move in together, get married, right?"

"Not everyone starts with the sleeping together," Kurapika qualifies. "And usually the final step is having children, and unless you're volunteering…"

Leorio's eyes focus on his face and he manages a glare as he shoves hard at the blond's shoulder. Kurapika can't resist a burst of giggling at the expression of horrified outrage on the other man's face, and the conversation is briefly on hold while he laughs into the blankets under him. When he emerges Leorio's scowl has evolved into a smile that is more tender than Kurapika was probably supposed to see, and the hand is back against the blond, this time threading through his hair.

"I just don't want you to think I'm not serious about you," Leorio says, his eyebrows knitting themselves into a shadow of worry over his glasses.

"You mean you're not just using me for my body?" Kurapika injects the question with all the feigned shock he can muster, and Leorio's gaze snaps back to his face with so much horror that it's all he can do to keep from going off into laughter again.

"Seriously, Leorio." He reaches out to stroke his fingers against the fabric of the other man's shirt, absent affection from years of habit. "Why would you think _I_ would think you're not serious about me? I _live_ with you. Do you think I'm going to up and leave one day?"

He means it to be teasing, but Leorio's face goes dark for a moment. Kurapika's fingers tighten on his shirtfront in instant response without the feedback of his conscious brain. "You _do_ think that."

"No!" Leorio protests, but his hand against Kurapika's hair is going stiff with panic before he deliberately softens his hold. "It's not that I really think it. I just -"

"Worry." He does, Kurapika knows. It's one of the things Leorio does best, one of the things that makes him best for Kurapika, his constant altruistic worry. It'll make him a good doctor, too, eventually, but Kurapika tends to forget the way Leorio can work himself into a panic over things that seem obviously trivial to the blond.

He takes a breath, and sits up fully so Leorio rolls onto his back and is looking up at him from the mattress. Kurapika takes the other man's hands in his, carefully so he can fit their fingers together, and Leorio lets him without making any attempt to sit up. Only once their hands are interlocked does Kurapika lift his gaze to Leorio's face and start speaking.

"Leorio. You are the best thing to happen to me, the best thing to _insist_ on happening to me even when I was determined to find all the worst things about my continued existence." His smile has an edge of self-deprecation to it, but he keeps speaking. "I have no intention of leaving you, now or ever, and I don't expect you to leave me either." It's all _obvious_ to Kurapika, patently clear truths, but Leorio's face is relaxing like he's saying something novel. "I _do_ love you, now, and I _will_ love you for the rest of our lives. And I'm here, with you, forever." He tightens his loose hold into a squeeze, for just a moment, and Leorio squeezes back and smiles. "Okay?"

The other man shuts his eyes, and takes a breath. When he opens them the shadow of fear is gone, and there is just sunshine. "Okay."

Kurapika smiles, and when Leorio pulls he comes down to curl against the other man's side.

"We'd never be able to separate our books at this point, anyway," he comments, and he can feel Leorio laugh under him.

"That is true." There is a pause. "Kurapika."

Kurapika shuts his eyes. "Leorio?"

"I love you."

"I love you too."


End file.
